[ecrea] International Conference - Computer Networks Histories: Local, National and Transnational Perspectives

International Conference - Computer Networks Histories: Local, National 
and Transnational Perspectives 14-15 December 2017 Lugano, Switzerland
 Aims and scope
 Recently several works in the fields of Internet Studies, Science and 
Technology Studies, and Media Studies have stressed the importance of 
early local, national and transnational computer networks histories for 
a deeper understanding of technological and social change in 
contemporary societies. This two-day conference has a triple aim.
First, gathering scholars and researchers from a variety of disciplines 
working on theoretical and empirical analysis of computer network histories.
Second, providing a wide perspective on these histories, including case 
studies from Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Oceania as well as 
international organizations dealing with the control and management of 
networks: this interdisciplinary and international debate could be 
useful to compare worldwide experiences and to provide new frames on 
this topic.
Third, the conference aims to develop new frameworks and a space of 
discussion on the historical role of computer networks, representing the 
starting point of an international community of scholars.
 Potential topics may include, but are in no way limited to, the following:
 - The origins and development of computer networks under a local, 
national, international, or transnational perspective;
- Political, economic, and cultural representations of computer networks 
in Western and Eastern cultures;
- Comparative analysis of early and late networks;
- Physical infrastructures and materiality of computer networks;
- The political economy of national digital infrastructures;
- Histories of the digitalization of analogic networks;
- The history of failed and forgotten computer networks projects;
- The influence of early computer networks on the development of the 
Internet and of the World Wide Web;
- The cultural and social history of computer networks communities (e.g. 
communitarian networks, academic networks, professional networks, civic 
networks).
 All the authors are invited to send an abstract of a max 500 words and 
a short bio by February 28, 2017 to (nethistories /at/ gmail.com). All invited 
speakers interested in publish their papers in the journal revue 
Histoire et Informatique will be asked to send a paper of max 5000 words 
by October 31, 2017.
 Conference venue
The two-day conference will take place in Lugano, Switzerland, hosted by 
the Faculty of Communication Sciences of USI - Università della Svizzera 
italiana. The organizing committee comes from a collaboration between 
the Institute of Media and Journalism (IMeG) of USI and the Association 
Histoire & Informatique Suisse of Bern.
 Travel grants
A limited number of travel grants may be available for participants 
without access to other financial resources. To request travel funding, 
please add to your proposal the motivation of your request and an 
estimate of the needed budget.
 Deadlines
28 February 2017 Deadline for abstract submission
31 March 2017 Notification of acceptance
31 October 2017 Short papers (max 5000 words) to be delivered
14-15 December 2017 2-days conference
 Organizers
 Association Histoire & Informatique Suisse - Bern <http://blog.ahc-ch.ch/>
 IMeG Institute of Media and Journalism, Università della Svizzera 
italiana - Lugano <http://www.imeg.com.usi.ch/>
   For further information please contact the organizational secretariat
 *       Prof. Gabriele Balbi 
<http://search.usi.ch/en/people/9fca22404467d1801cfd4213b9fb7e7e/Balbi-Gabriele>
*       Paolo Bory 
<http://search.usi.ch/en/people/707f4dc7632673d2a6b44a4281bb5874/bory-paolo>
*       Gianluigi Negro 
<http://search.usi.ch/en/people/2166df9d09fa4387be828efc6a84441d/Negro-Gianluigi>
 Keynote speakers
 Hu Yong is a professor at Peking University's School of Journalism and 
Communication, and a well-known new media critic and Chinese Internet 
pioneer. Hu Yong is a founding director for Communication Association of 
China (CAC) and China New Media Communication Association (CNMCA). His 
publications include Internet: The King Who Rules, the first book 
introducing the Internet to Chinese readers, and The Rising Cacophony: 
Personal Expression and Public Discussion in the Internet Age, 
documenting major transformations in the Chinese cyberspace.
http://sjc.pku.edu.cn/English.aspx // Tweet @huyong
 Benjamin Peters is Associate Professor in the Department of 
Communication at the University of Tulsa and affiliated fellow at the 
Information Society Project at Yale Law School. His research focuses on 
the cultural history and social theory of digital media, with emphases 
on the former Soviet Union and the West. Professor Peters has recently 
published two books: Digital Keywords: A Vocabulary of Information 
Society & Culture (Princeton University Press) and How Not to Network a 
Nation: The Uneasy History of the Soviet Internet (MIT Press) in which 
he offers an account of the Soviet Union's failed attempts to construct 
their own national computer networks for civilians during the height of 
the Cold War tech race.
https://petersbenjamin.wordpress.com/ // Tweet @bjpeters
 Conference website <http://www.cnh.usi.ch/call>



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